Animated Film Receives Top Prize At Bucks Festival

"Object Conversation," an animated film by Paul Glabicki of Pittsburgh, has been awarded the grand prize of the 1985 Bucks County Independent Film Festival.

The abstract film taking top honors in the independent film competition at the third annual festival portrays a series of objects carrying on a conversation among and about themselves.

The film also won the best art-experimental film prize.

Voted the best documentary was "Where Did You Get That Woman?" an affectionate portrait of an aging washroom matron with a wry sense of humor and a rich personal history.

Produced by Loretta Smith of Chicago, "Woman" was recognized by a certificate of special merit at the 56th Academy Awards ceremony and has received numerous Public Broadcasting System screenings.

Roger Schmitz and Miroslav Janek's "Visitor," a dark fairy tale set in the Minnesota Territory of 1848, won the award for best narrative film.

"Voices," by Joanna Priestly of Portland, Ore., a lighthearted exploration of modern social anxiety, won in the animated film category.

All the award-winning films, plus additional Festival Committee selections, will be shown Nov. 16 in the Newtown Theater, 120 N. State St., Newtown, as the culmination of the four-day Film Festival.

The annual Bucks County Film Festival Independent Film Competition was open to independent filmmakers from throughout the United States.

The more than 150 entries in this year's festival were judged by Linda Blackaby, director of the Neighborhood Film Project, Philadelphia; Charles Samu, manager of short subject acquisition for HBO-Cinemax, and Amos Vogel, author, contributor to Film Comment and professor at the Annenberg School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The winning filmmakers were awarded cash prizes totaling $1,200.

In addition to the Nov. 16 Newtown screening, the winning films will also be shown at locations throughout eastern Pennsylvania in order to provide a wide audience for the works.

The festival's initial event will be a screening of experimental films by Jerry Musser of Harrisburg and Paul DeNooijer of Holland, and "Vernon, Florida," a highly regarded personal documentary by filmmaker Errol Morris at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in the James-Lorah House, 132 N. Main St., Doylestown. Cost is $3 for admission.

An open screening for area filmmakers will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 14 in the library auditorium of Bucks County Community College, Swamp Road, Newtown Township.

Award-winning filmmaker Tony Buba will speak and show his films in the library auditorium at 8 p.m. Friday.

Buba, hailing from Braddock "Little Pittsburgh" in Allegheny County, is perhaps best-known for his documentaries about Braddock, its people and the decaying state of industrial America.

Both events are free.

Admission to the screening of festival winners at 2 p.m. Nov. 16 is $3.